There are many different types of footwear and footwear accessories. A common addition to footwear is some sort of illuminating device. These illumination devices can form designs, logos, or other visual effects. They can also serve simply to add visual appeal to footwear by providing a pleasing light display. While these illuminated footwear are appealing, especially to children, there are some drawbacks. To fully illuminate a shoe may require many light sources. With each additional light source, the shoe will require additional circuits to power the light sources, and potentially require a larger power source. This will increase the weight and cost of the shoe. Each additional light source will also cause the shoe to be more susceptible to inclement conditions, such as rain. In an ideal situation, a shoe could appear to be illuminated using a minimum amount of light sources. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for refracting light from a light source to make a shoe appear as though it has many individual illuminating devices. The present invention utilizes the light generated from a light source to refract light, making it appear as though visual designs on parts of the shoe are illuminated by their own light source.
The present invention refracts light by providing a light source, and a translucent component, of which the translucent component thus defines the illumination path. Light waves originate at the light source and follow the illumination path, being refracted as they cross boundary sections created in the translucent component. These boundary sections, which can be used to form various designs, then appear to be individually illuminated to a viewer.